Chess | Swifts | Flowering lemon trees | John Clare | LV=
How sad that you present such a monochrome image of the chess world of which I have been a keen member for many years (Editorial, 12 November). I have never brought curling sandwiches in a plastic bag to a chess event. My preferred energy source is a ripe banana. When I reached in my pocket for one before a tough match, a team member once asked hopefully whether I had any heroin with me.
Rob Hull
London
• Your country diary (13 November) says: “Screams of swifts that scoured air in summer are now amplified within the walls of Pyrenean or Anti Atlas gorges.” Our common swifts are much further south than that. During November they are likely to be snapping up insects over the Congo forest.
Sarah Gibson
Author, Swifts and Us